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Marvel Tsum Tsum – First Impressions

Do you like cute things? How do you feel about Marvel super heroes? What if I told you that there is a magical place where cuteness and Marvel collide in a battle of epic proportions? Well there is such a place. And no, it is not a puppy day care where the puppies are forced to watch Thor all day. It’s a new game that is out now for your mobile devices and it is called Marvel Tsum Tsum. A continuation of the very popular Tsum Tsum game and franchise, Marvel Tsum Tsum asks you to connect adorably faced Marvel characters in an effort to gain high scores, unlock more cute faces and defeat evil…which is also pretty darn cute. Yet, there’s something quite surprising here. There’s a level of depth that is a bit unprecedented for a game of this nature. In fact, Marvel Tsum Tsum might just be the most complex “Connect” game you’ve ever played. Let’s dive right in and find out TSUM more. See what I did there? I said Tsum instead of…you know what? YOU try making the jokes!

In Marvel Tsum Tsum, your basic goal is to connect 3 or more cute Marvel heads of the same type. Doing this earns you points and coins. Of course, you’ll often want to shoot for more than three. Hitting Seven at once activates a bomb, which can be detonated to take out a cluster of Tsum Tsums. Keep going and you’ll activate a Mega Charge which makes your score triple for a short time. You can see how you’ll quickly be trying to rack up points as fast as possible in an effort to get your best score yet.

Taking this to the next level, literally, Marvel Tsum Tsum adds in a progression like story mode, which has you completing different stages with different goals. You might be asked to get a chain of Eight at some point in your round or detonate a certain number of bombs. At the same time, you’ll be trying to rack up a high enough score to get a 3-star rank on each level in an Angry Birds style fight to be the best. Of course, these stars actually come in handy at the end of a stage as enough of them will open up hidden levels after the final boss. Oh yes, how could I forget. There are also bosses, who you’ll be fighting to defeat every few levels or so.

Boss levels are fairly similar to regular levels except that a giant boss emoji is taking up a lot of space and you’ll be trying to connect around him in order to do damage to him. Yet don’t get too complacent because the boss can also damage you. When getting a Mega Charge, the boss jumps out for a few moments and takes extra damage, allowing you to show him your stuff for a short time. These boss battles really help to mix things up in the normal game, but they also reveal a deeper part of the puzzle. Tsum Tsums have types, sort of like Pokemon, and certain types are stronger against other types. Here is a photo to show the strengths and weaknesses.

And then there’s the fact that you can use another form of currency, Iso-8’s, to level up your Tsum Tsums abilities. Oh, did I forget to mention that your Tsums and their abilities are constantly leveling up and managing this is a big part of making a team? A team, you ask? You’ll be setting up teams of three in order to maximize your damage output and point earnings. This isn’t even mentioning all the different types of Is-8’s, timed Battle Events and rewards you can earn. Like I said at the top, this is an incredibly deep game. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if some folks were a bit overwhelmed by the nature of this game. Simply going through the menus of “Help” information was enough to make my eyes spin with how much information there is.

Ummmm…what?

I’ll be doing another post to really break down a lot of these complexities, but I want to keep this post relegated to actual first impressions. Aside from thinking that this game is a bit on the complex side, which I don’t know is necessarily a good or bad thing, I really am enjoying it quite a bit. Much like my love of the original Tsum Tsum game, as well as Disney Emoji Blitz, the game features fast and furious gameplay that has you throwing your hands wildly in the air upon getting a great score. It’s exciting to beat your best by a mere couple of points, and even more epic when you blast past it.

There are plenty of characters here to keep you salivating for weeks to come and I’m sure more will be on the way soon. There’s also a great sense of community in getting your friends to join in the fun and play the game with you. Co-op play provides a great way for families to play together and to feel the sense of accomplishment with one another. It’s a new way to play and I feel that it will surely become something that makes this game stand out from others like it.

There’s a lot to explore here and I really do feel as though I have only scratched the surface. For now, I will leave you with this: The game is free to download and given the high production values I think it definitely deserves your eyes for a bit. For some, it may prove to have a bit too much going on. But those willing to dive in and get their feet wet are going to find a very rewarding game with lots of fun to be had and about as much cuteness in one place as any person can handle. I am loving the game so far and had a hard time pulling myself away just to writ this. Check it out and make sure to let me know what you think in the comments!